Dialectics of Cultural Production: Branding Indigo-Dyed Textiles in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand

Abstract

This article explores the processes of cultural production of indigo-dyed textiles and their distribution and consumption, examining how commodities “mediate” people and their practices and relations in different places and contexts. The dynamics of cultural production as presented in the life cycle of a product form part of a brand’s social life that accretes to comprise its “cultural-economic biography.” The brand is designed, negotiated, and experienced by producers, customers, and other actors throughout its social life. The brand is also perceived by audiences in terms of the cultural-economic biography of the different products under the brand umbrella. I undertook ethnographic research in Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand, and used the “social life of things” method to highlight the commoditization processes of indigo-dyed textiles.

Keywords:

• cultural production
• production
• brand
• indigo-dyed textile
• social life of things
• cultural-economic biography

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Chayan Vhaddhanaphuti, Yos Santasombat, Oscar Salemink, and Benjaporn Deekhuntod for their helpful comments and insightful critiques on earlier drafts of this paper. I would like to thank Nicolás Mendoza for help with editing and clarifying some points of this paper.

Notes

1 Mae is the Thai word for “mother.” The term can also be used as a respectful title for an older woman.

Additional information

Funding

This research project is supported by the Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Project (RGJ), the Thailand Research Fund. The support is given through Prof. Chayan Vadthanaphuti, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. [Grant number PhD0268_2551]

Notes on contributors

Chanjittra Chanorn

Chanjittra Chanorn is a Ph. D. Candidate of Anthropology in Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. Research interests are cultural-economic anthropology, socio-economic development, ethnicity and cultural rights, cultural industry, material culture and globalization. The recent publication is “Self-transformation strategies of development: The emergence of indigo-dyed textile entrepreneurs in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand” Thammasat Review 19(2): 1–21.: https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/tureview/article/view/105418.[email protected], [email protected]